Panelists Suggest Delaying Stage 2 By One Year

Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) began the Senate Finance committee hearing on health IT with a Thomas Edison quote: “Vision without execution is hallucination.” 

Following last week’s call from Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) to pause the meaningful use program and determine whether “the bar is too low,” Edison’s words were apropos to Wednesday's hearing, in which providers and a tech vendor recommended expanding the timeline for meaningful use because the next phase is overly-prescriptive and threatens to hinder hospitals and patients alike while creating a digital divide among caregivers.

“The program is reaching an inflection point," said John Glaser, CEO of Siemens Health Services. "The requirements for stage 2 are more stringent.”